Back to results >>

2026 Week 6 Northwestern Wildcats Rankings

Main Poll Voters

User	Rank	Reason
DataDrivenPirate	9
studio_sally	9
Maladroit44	10	All of a sudden, Northwestern's got a better résumé than practically any other non-undefeated. Dominant, controlling blowout wins over Colorado and Penn State, plus a highly competitive, questionably-officiated road loss to the defending national champs? Their worst performance is a somewhat competitive win over South Dakota State, but even there, it's hard to fault them much for a win over what'll surely be the new FCS #1 this week. I'm all the way in on this team; gimme David Braun in the playoff.
Striker743	11	Up 8 - proving that the Indiana game was not a fluke
Tarmacked	11	This team just continues to impress in all facets.
Blazeth	12
ChBass	12	Oh, they called us an outlier because we ranked you before the Indiana game... but we can't quit you, Northwestern... They are going to surprise people with their top-10 offense, and be underranked because it's Northwestern, but the numbers see you.
grtgbln	12
Justanother_0	12	Massive win over Penn State gets the Wildcats further up the ballot.
ryseing	12
srs_house	12
tdoger	12
redwave2505	13
sirgippy	13	GippyRank expected rank: 11.4. Central 80% interval: 3–22. Top-25 probability: 93%.
The-Gothic-Castle	13
ExternalTangents	14	Overall +16.8; offense +8.1 (22nd), defense -8.6 (17th)
frumious88	14
MADBuc49	14	+4
MainPeanut25	14	Chip Kelly is the Einstein of offensive coordinators
owlalwaysloveyew	14
Versigot	14
Bereft13	15	Power: 12, SoR: 28; LW: 21
pileatedloon	15
TheZachster	15
AlphaH4wk	16
bladefencer	16	0.773, +13, Pow: 6, Off: 13, Def: 18, SOR: 26
CFBHurts	16
halldaylong	16
r0sco	16
BosskOnASegway	17	1607.5 -> 1749.7 [+142.2] (#27 -> #17)
CRedds19	17
cvsprinter1	17	1-loss to Undefeated
frone	17
Muffinnnnnnn	17
OKgolfer	17
Player_1_has_Joined	17
retnuh101	17
Cars-and-Coffee	18
chweris	18
Fmeson	18
GeauxTri	18	Strong win over Penn State; only loss came on the road at undefeated Indiana.
jjjoebox	18
ToeInDigDeep	18	Loss to Indiana. Notable win: Penn State and Colorado
AllHawkeyesGoToHell	19
corundum9	19
digdat0	19	19. Northwestern — Score: 0.146 | Results: 0.894, SOS Rank: #3, Quality: 0.060, Recency: 0.000 | T10W: 0, T25W: 0, T50W: 1, Off Rk: #18, Def Rk: #11
GenialGiant	19
jthomas694	19
mthompson2320	19	LW: 38
nbingham196	19
noahthearc	19
SlaminSammons	19
BlueSCar	20
cyberchaox	20	I still had Iowa fairly high after their loss to tOSU, and had Wisconsin high too, but it's time to admit that wins over Penn State and Michigan don't really move the needle any more. Northwestern held Indiana tight, though, and their win over Colorado briefly looked like it would be big when the Buffs were handling TTU early.
justsaynotoreddit	20
KansasEF5Tornado	20
Klaassy23	20
RollWarTideEagle	20
visor841	20
chillmagic420	21
Conglossian	21	U/R
G-Aardvark	21
luckroy	21
Ruhrgebietheld	21
spmartin1993	21
tdeff19	21
Terminal_BAS	21
Bank_Gothic	22	The close loss to Indiana is actually doing more for NW in my opinion than the win over PSU. Nonetheless, I don't think PSU is a terrible team and NW looked dominant. Colorado is a terrible team, and NW dominated them in week 2.
cornholesurfer	22
daredassdude	22
DarkLegend64	22
douchebagjack	22	Best 3 Wins: PENN STATE,Colorado,South Dakota State. Loss: INDIANA. Wake lost to Miami, Kentucky lost to Alabama, Wisconsin lost to Notre Dame, Tennessee lost to Texas, Northwestern lost to Indiana, Wisconsin lost to Notre Dame. Northwestern gets it for the memes
Drexlore	22
eSpiritCorpse	22	0.9091
HideNZeke	22	Both them and Wisconsin might be riding on a less respectable Penn State win than would have thought, but they also played damn tough against a true Natty caliber team.
hypercube42342	22	Power 12 / Resume 37
Jay_Dubbbs	22
JeromesNiece	22
JustinMSU21	22
monkeymatt1836	22
Noy_Telinu	22	Actually good, nerds.
plannedsickdays	22
Rakarei	22
Roscoe_Filburn	22	Talk your kids about ranked Northwestern.
sickmemes48	22
TimeBroken	22
AlexanderComet	23
Chipsahoy523	23	NR
grey_pilgrim_	23
Hackasizlak	23
Luigiatl	23
ManiacalBlazer	23
OldCoaly	23
RobertNeyland	23
SpadeRyker	23
SteemieRayVaughn	23
TheReformedBadger	23
TopGoose	23
zenverak	23
bakonydraco	24	83.208
Blooblod	24
bretticus733	24
cfbguy	24
Charlemagne42	24	Adjustment: 19.4%
CPiGuy2728	24
fredmerc111	24
JamoRedhead	24
Lex_Ludorum	24	Wing T? Say less - I’m in.
MahjongDaily	24
PeteyNice	24
placid_salad	24
RheagarTargaryen	24
Sometimeswelose	24
texas2089	24
TheUltimate721	24	The most under-rated team in the country. Doubt them at your own peril. They might not have the roster of an Ohio State but they took Indiana to the wire last week and just beat the crap out of Penn State. They are one of the best coached teams in the country between David Braun and Chip Kelly.
tjstanley	24
TolkienFan71	24
VerySeriousBanana	24
ALStark69	25	NR; had to Next 5: Nebraska, Kentucky, Cincinnati itw, Houston, USC/Wisconsin
BearsAreGreat1	25
Buckeyes2010	25
Ch-i-ef	25	Neat team you got there!
CharlemagneOfTheUSA	25
ChaseTheFalcon	25
eclectic_tastes	25
ewolfy13	25
NotSoSuperNerd	25	1.241 [8.10-3.90]
PattyKane16	25
penisthightrap_	25
SwissArmyScythe	25	NR (Dropped: 24 Wisconsin, 25 Michigan)
Techwid	25
Texasagsman	25
vanburen1845	25
Xy13	25	{NR} [3-1] (34-13 W vs Penn St) 2 P4 Wins --- Maybe their game vs Indi wasn't a fluke.
ya111101	25

Provisional Poll Voters

User	Rank	Reason
drewscottt	9	+4
LookAtMaxwell	9	Beat Penn State 34–13. Its only loss was 23–29 at #7 Indiana, and the score model has it 9th in offense.
Protoco2	9
Yechibaby09	9
DownshiftGD	10
IWieldTheFlameOfAnor	10	265
mr_longfellow_deeds	10
solarsnail6	10
DarthGlazer	11	big purple in the house. I think indiana is really really good, and Northwestern is just that good too.
mathwrath55	11
jibberishdhyukl	12
Ok_Significance_3803	12
CALL_ME_ISHMAEBY	13
meta_irl	13
JackWK_Gaming	14
a_proud_ohioan	15
ianmcmoney	15
ResearchFlaky5912	15	Ranking NW here after a dominant win over PSU suggests that Indiana was not a fluke.
Scottyfer	15
sportstrap	15
538allspelledout	16
dstrainr	16
fm22fnam	16	+UNR
Klightgrove	16
NC_Pineapple	16
NoOutdoorSoup	16
Salmon-Dude	16
shouldajustsaid_yeah	16
SpeddyDawg	16
gohncell	17	Blow-out and they will be 6-1 with ease
MajikSix	17
Nath0leon	17
Yelich04	17	^6
adi_red	18
Effective-Lead-6657	18
FrontRunner51	18	(NR)
grahamca	18	T46ᵗʰ W/L, T12ᵗʰ Predicted Wins, 3ʳᵈ Team Strength, 11ᵗʰ Quality of Wins
isrealball	18
LightningDusty	18	↑NR
manbeqrpig	18
Crelc3	19
MyAngelMiraidon	19	(+7) - The Indiana game being that close and running over Penn State should be clearly ranked. I see them being 6-1 heading into Oregon
NNul	19
pongislame	19	3-1 (@ Indiana) Beat Penn State and kept Indiana close.
Rishik01	19
BeyondLiesTheWub	20	change from last week: +15
ChiTrojan2	20
MWiatrak2077	20
n8TLfan	20
S2OP	20	(NR)
Signal_Tip_7428	20
666PeaceKeepaGirl	21
chief_sitass	21
SonOfGarry	21
DillyDillySzn	22
Isthmus11	22	3-1, a close loss to Indiana I think says more about the skill level of this team instead of some regression on Indiana's part. Chip Kelly is kind of a menace and has dialed up a different looking offense for pretty much every game so far this year. PSU is honestly just a terrible team but still 400+ rushing does not come from nowhere. They have a tough stretch towards the end of the year and while I do not think they will beat OSU they really have a chance against Oregon and Iowa
LonghornInNebraska	22
Menktenk	22
MotherQuocer	22
Pyroblockx	22
Sflabuckeye13	22
Star_Wars_Sith	22
thatoneguyD13	22	Tier 4. Big win over PSU and close loss to Indiana are solid indicators that this is a good team.
FuzzyDunlop911	23
geordieColt88	23
GrimmacingGrinny	23
Hastronaut	23
Key_Solution_4076	23
LegendParkour	23
MisguidedPassion	23
OG_Felwinter	23
RJTrey	23
saquad69	23
HereComesNightTime	24
NebraskaPlainsman	24
ninjatown23	24	While it’s likely Penn State was overhyped, the last two weeks of Northwestern football puts them in my top 25. Giving Penn State a historical beatdown and playing Indiana tight on the road shows me this team is better than expected.
penix4heisman	24
Piptit	24
S3G	24
SaguaroCactus19	24
Select-Edge-3262	24	+10
tdaten	24
The_Stratman	24
TheBeekman8	24
69nicer	25
bocnj	25
bolts_win_again	25
Dawg-Bite	25
Esb5415	25
FoodCourtDruid	25
KevinDoesSports	25
llamawhittlings	25	SP+: 33, SP+ Resume: 14
myworld3	25
newSomberMan	25	Considered: Kentucky, Duke, Wake Forest, James Madison, USC Dropped: #17 Kentucky, #24 Cincinnati, #25 West Virginia
Perryapsis	25
poisonedarrow	25
SomerandomIDFBfan	25
spaceblev11	25
SpectralHydra	25

Blue = Human
Red = Computer
Green = Hybrid

Bold = before the AP poll was published
Normal = after the AP poll was published

Back to results >>